India's major private sector ammunition manufacturer wants to increase its footprint in the African ammunition market and is considering setting up bulk explosives factories in Australia and Indonesia, according to Nilesh Panpaliya, the chief financial officer of Nagpur-based Solar Industries. – Defense

An F-35 Joint Strike Fighter would be able to use its sensors, weapons and computer technology to destroy Russian and Chinese 5th-Generation Stealth fighters in a high-end combat fight, service officials said. – Scout WarriorThe Pentagon’s emerging “Arsenal Plane” or “flying bomb truck” is likely to be a modified, high-tech adaptation of the iconic B-52 bomber designed to fire air-to-air weapons, release swarms of mini-drones and provide additional fire-power to 5th generation stealth fighters such as the F-35 and F-22, Pentagon officials and analysts said. – Scout WarriorThe military wants to replace a host of current helicopters with aircraft that not only fly much faster, but can fly without a human pilot. The Army-led Future Vertical Lift program will study whether FVL should be an “Optionally Piloted Vehicle,” capable of accommodating a pair of highly-trained human pilots for complex combat missions or of flying with an empty cockpit for routine supply runs. – Breaking Defense

As the Army gets ready to begin accepting deliveries of its new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, a new fast-moving armored vehicle engineered to take bullets, drive over roadside bombs and withstand major enemy attacks, the service is solidifying plans to incorporate the vehicle into its preparations for massive great power conflict. – Scout WarriorThe Army is looking to increase the amount of system demonstrations to be conducted before committing to major investments, with plans to use that approach in an upcoming air-and-missile defense sensor competition, according to the Army’s deputy for acquisition and systems management. – Defense News

A week after the Air Force declared its version of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 jet ready for limited combat operations, the Pentagon’s top tester warned that the U.S. military’s costliest weapons program is still riddled with deficiencies. - BloombergRaytheon Co. may have to pay millions of dollars to cover part of a 28 percent cost overrun on development of the most sophisticated smart bomb planned for the new F-35 jet and 11 other U.S. military aircraft. - BloombergThe Marine Corps is modernizing one of its most reliable battle platforms: the M1A1 Abrams tank. – Military.com

India will sign the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the US during the late August visit of Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar to the US, according to a senior official of the Indian Ministry of Defense. – Defense News

Dept. Defense Office of Net Assessment:Bill Gertz reports: The Pentagon’s storied Office of Net Assessment (ONA) is coming under fire from critics inside the military and in Congress for failing to produce more of its signature product, namely, top-secret net assessments. – Washington Times’ Inside the Ring​Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the United States has handed out a vast but persistently uncountable quantity of military firearms to its many battlefield partners in Afghanistan and Iraq. Today the Pentagon has only a partial idea of how many weapons it issued, much less where these weapons are. Meanwhile, the effectively bottomless abundance of black-market weapons from American sources is one reason Iraq will not recover from its post-invasion woes anytime soon. – New York Times

Rep. Mac Thornberry and Andrew Krepinevich write: To be sure, there is room for greater efficiency in how the U.S. government allocates its defense dollars, but its financial woes have little to do with military expend­i­tures; the main culprits are the govern­ment’s rapidly increasing debt and the expanding costs of entitlement programs. Simply put, the United States is fast approaching the time when its debt can no longer be deferred to future generations. – Foreign AffairsGeneral David Petraeus, USA (Ret.) and Michael O’Hanlon write: There is no need to return to significantly higher levels, such as the four percent of GDP that some have proposed. But nor would it be prudent to drop below three percent. That translates into perhaps $625 billion to $650 billion a year in constant dollars over the next few years for the overall national defense budget, including war costs (assuming they remain at roughly current amounts). That level is sensible and affordable, and what the next president should work with Congress to provide. – Foreign AffairsJustin Johnson writes: Today’s men and women in uniform put their lives on the line for our country, but they are doing so with less training, worn out equipment, and fewer brothers and sisters in arms to back them up. With threats rising across the globe, all Americans should be concerned about the troubling state of the U.S. military. – Breaking Defense

Thomas Donnelly and Roger Zakheim write: In sum, the real readiness crisis is not measured in the fight against ISIS, or in Afghanistan, but in the capacity and capability needed in a more demanding contingency…Nor are they prepared to fight two advanced adversaries at once. Through the pose they strike, Petraeus and O’Hanlon not only mischaracterize the nature and extent of today’s problems. They also lead readers to underestimate the risks of a real crisis. – National Review Online

General Carter Ham, USA (Ret.) writes: Gen. Petraeus and Mr. O’Hanlon’s op-ed notwithstanding, these issues of military preparedness are getting insufficient attention in the current political discourse. It is past time for serious discussion from those currently serving in policy-making positions as well as by those aspiring to such national-level positions in our government. – Defense One

The F-35, said Gen. David Goldfein, is “about a family of systems and it’s about a network — that’s what gives us an asymmetric advantage.” Instead of comparing the J-20 to the Joint Strike Fighter, Goldfein said, it made more sense to compare the J-20 to the F-117 he flew years ago. – Breaking Defense

Beijing unveiled its new J20 stealth fighter at a Chinese air show on Tuesday, CNNreports. the first time the long-range, radar-avoiding stealth combat aircraft had been shown off in public. (Pics here.) Generally viewed as China’s answer to the American F-22 and F-35 planes. Some at the Pentagon claim they’re not overly worried about the plane, however, since it uses some technologies that the United States has had for decades. Still, the plane should challenge for air dominance in the region, setting off an air power competition with U.S. Marine Corps F-35s which will deploy to Iwakuni, Japan, across the East China Sea from China's western coast, early next year.

Two Chinese J-20 fighter jets made their public debut at an airshow near Hong Kong on Tuesday, the latest sign of progress in Beijing’s quest to build a fleet of stealthy warplanes. But it takes more than a new airframe to play the 21st-century air-superiority game. – Defense OneChina's J-20 stealth fighter made its public debut at an air show on Tuesday, in the latest sign of the growing sophistication of the country's military technology. – Associated PressAnalysis: Mr. Xi appears politically indomitable, but officials suggest he and other leaders are alarmed by broader, long-term dangers and by the party’s ability to weather them. Both considerations underpinned the leadership’s decision to go along with raising his status. – New York Times